Camp Highlights

The year 4,5 and 6’s had a really fun and exciting time at Carey Park camp in Henderson Valley. Some of the activities we participated in were the flying fox, confidence course, rock climbing, slip n slide and many more. We had delicious meals(not joking), fun games after dinner and a camp concert on the last night. We really enjoyed camp and would like to thank all the teachers and parents for taking time off and making it possible. Thank you so much!

We hope that the future campers of UHPS have the same amount of fun that we had.

Here is a highlights video of what we got up to!

Sharing Our Learning

Finally the day had come for us to share all of our fantastic learning from this term. Sharing Our Learning didn't just happen. Although we were looking forward to it, we knew that it would require a lot of hard work to get ready for.

Together we decided what we wanted to share with our families and got to work displaying these things around our classrooms. One of the things we wanted to show off was our new understanding of how to make a lei. We decided to create a lei package that included all of the materials for our families to make their very own lei. We thought this was a good idea because it gave them a challenge so that they could use their growth mindset. We also wanted to gift them something to make them feel welcome in our classes and we had been learning about lei making on our trip to the Corban Estate Art Centre.

Another thing we wanted to show was our Trophy cabinets which we really enjoyed sharing with our families. We designed and decorated our own trophies and handed them around the class so that all of our classmates could write compliments about us so that we felt appreciated in our classrooms. We then stuck the trophy cabinet on the cupboard doors so that everyone could see them.

We also wanted to gather in some kind of feedback from our families as inspiration throughout term 4. We designed a medal for our parents to write feedback on about our learning this term. We then coloured it in and had our families write on them before hanging them up on our writing wall so that everyone could see them.

We took our time to share our writing wall with our families. Our writing wall is a place where every time we finish our writing we peg it up to display it so that everyone can see the fantastic writing we have done in room 1 and 2. This is another way that we celebrate our learning throughout the year.

We have had a very fun and busy term. Room 1 and 2 have had many great experiences including Breakers basketball, SNAG golf, an arts trip, a trip to the musical FAME, the Variety Show, Taekwondo, using the bike Track and many others. We cant wait to see what Term 4 has in store!

Thanks to all of the families that came through for Sharing Our Learning - we really appreciate it!

Pasifica Trip

Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Bula, Talofa, Aloha, Malo e lelei!

This term the Wild Minds went on a fabulous trip to the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson. We gained a deeper understanding of performance which will help us with our own variety show. We discovered how to make leis, create a beat on the Pacific wooden drums and dance the hula and sa-sa. The Aunties and Mamas of the Pacific Nations taught us how to greet each other respectfully in their own languages. We made a flower lei and learned of its significance when greeting others. In the meeting room we learned how to combine Pacifica drums together to create a percussive, drum beat. The parents and teachers assisted us to keep the beat on the wooden, slit drums. Lastly the girls learnt a graceful, hula dance while the boys performed a loud, vibrant sa-sa. This was a great experience which will really help us with our performance.

Variety Show

Upper Harbour Primary School is hosting a variety show - Earth 2.0. Set in the year 2500, colonies of people from around the world have been arriving on Earth 2.0, to begin a new civilisation based on the knowledge and lessons learned from Earth 1.0. Many representatives from nations around the world have been asked to share their memories of Earth 1.0.

The Wild Minds have been focusing on great sporting moments that New Zealand has achieved throughout history. We have enjoyed learning new songs, choreographing dances, creating dramatic monologues and preparing costumes and props. We are very proud of Evie and Nikhil from room 1 and 2 who will star as two of the four main characters in our show.

Earth 2.0 will be held at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna on Wednesday 13th of September with a start time of 7:30pm.

Tickets are available to purchase online at ticketmaster.co.nz

FAME Trip

40 Wild Minds students were fortunate enough to attend the FAME performance at Albany Junior High School. FAME is a musical set at the New York Performing School of Arts and looks at the hard work and dedication it takes to be a successful performer.

This was such a fantastic experience for our students as it developed a broader understanding of performance and how all of the different parts of a show come together. This was a very valuable perspective for the students to gain while preparing for our very own Variety Show. The children examined the character’s performance, lighting, sound, props and even the backstage helpers.  

Thank you to all of the parent helpers who came with us on this trip. We hope you enjoyed the show!

Diginews

Diginews is a video that tells us about what’s happening in the week at U.H.P.S. This is much more interesting than just having a teacher read the notices.

You can find Diginews on the Diginews blog. Mr Barry runs the Diginews club which is in charge of making the video each week.The Diginews club is made up of students from room 1 and 2 who film in the staffroom. Each week 2 different people film.

An example of somethings that might be in Diginews is Soccer Club, Chess Club and Nature Club. After we filmed Mr Barry takes the film away and edits it together with music.

When Mr Barry gets better at it he will teach the Diginews Club and they will take over. We really enjoy Diginews because it’s so much fun to be be in front of the school without the stress of making a mistake.

By Cohen W

Superman Day

Is it a bird, is it a plane - no it’s Superman! On Friday the 24th of September, UHPS was filled with dads, grandads, brothers and other fabulous men in our lives. In the Wild Minds block each class hosted a different design challenge where students and their superman worked together. We decided to split our classes to continue to foster the great working relationships that exist within our team. Each class had a mix of students and supermen from rooms 1-4.

In room 1 with Mrs Thompson students worked to create a sailing boat that would quickly travel across water when blown with a straw. Each team continually tested and adapted their design to ensure it was watertight and would float. Students from each class raced against one another to produce a finalist.

In room 2 with Mr Barry students worked with their supermen to build a catapult that would shoot a ping pong ball 2 metres into a bucket. Each team could only use found objects and had 45 minutes to complete the task. At the end of their time, teams had 5 shots each. The team with the most successful shots would be the winner.

In room 3 with Miss Donovan students taught our superheros how to code and worked together to solve computational thinking problems. We had a blast and everyone stretched their brains and learnt something new. It was super great to have our supermen into our Wild Minds Community.

In room 4 with Mrs Purdie students completed the balloon rocket challenge.

Thrust is a pushing force created by energy. In the balloon experiment, our thrust comes from the energy of the balloon forcing the air out. In a real rocket, thrust is created by the force of burning rocket fuel as it blasts from the rocket's engine – as the engines blast down, the rocket goes up! We had lots of fun making and testing our rockets.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend this event, we all enjoyed having you here and we can’t wait til next year!

Emoji Masks

In rooms 1 and 2 we designed and created an emoji and converted it onto paper to assemble the mask.

Emojis are little expressions that can be replaced by words and people use them in texts and emails. We first had to cut out a yellow face with a template and cut out features, but there was one rule. You couldn’t draw on the emoji.

Everything had to be cut out and stuck on. We did this for our arts rotation. We made this with Mrs Thompson during the Wild Minds Arts rotation and it was very enjoyable. All of our emojis turned out amazing.

You can check them out in our video above.

By Yuna & Caleb B  

 

 Josephine Hunter and Neive Cameron

On Friday, Week 9, UHPS had an amazing resilience day!  We learnt lots about pushing forward, and achieving what we worked for. At an assembly, many were given certificates for being a strong leader at UHPS.

Also, there were activities in each block that we could sign up to do.

Here are some of the activities;

Wild Minds Block

Fear Factor

In the Wild Minds, Mr Barry and Mrs Thompson, hosted a Fear Factor! Students did many daring (and disgusting) activities such as The Ice Bucket Challenge, Face Fishing for apples, and lots of blindfolded taste testing!  These students needed to be resilient, keep going, and be brave.     

         

Treasure Hunters Block

Instructions to Draw a Picture

In the Treasure Hunters, you could choose a classroom to go to and there would be drawing activities. There was drawing minions, word animals, a castle, a pirate ship and teddy bears. You had to be resilient by trying your hardest to draw the picture.   

Dynamic Dragons Block

Heart, Body, Mind

In the Dynamic Dragons, we did boot camp, drama and problem solving. You had to be resilient because you had to have courage to do all the tricky challenges.

Minion Express Block

Origami

Lastly, over in the Minion Express those who signed up did origami. We made a lot of awesome things. We had to be resilient because to keep on going and trying our best to make the origami.

 

Northern Bays Performing Art

On Wednesday 21st of June, the UHPS dance group went to the Bruce Mason Centre for the Northern Bays Performing Arts Festival.

This festival showcased dancing, singing and music.

Fourteen schools around the North Shore participated in this event and the show was based around the theme “freedom”.

UHPS did an amazing dance to the song Freedom by Nicole C Mullen and had spectacular animal costumes and peace flags.

Well done guys!

By Jorja and Layla

Video from this event can be found here- Thanks Narelle for filming this for us.

* Tensile Bubbles *

 

Last week as part of our maths rotation room 1 and 2 have been focusing on geometry on how to make tensile bubbles. Tensile bubbles are shaped bubble wands that you make with straws and pipe cleaners…

The first time we made tensile bubbles we were told to make a pyramid and test it out with some bubble mixture which we made with dishwashing soap and water. The next day Mrs Thompson and Mr Barry decided for us to have a partner and make tensile bubble wands but this time we could be unique and make any 3D shape we like. Everybody got a sheet with their buddy and planned what shape they would make.  After everyone created a plan it was making time!.

We could only use these materials: 2 pipe cleaners, 2 straws and as much string as we like. It very challenging as we had to think carefully about how we were using our materials. When our 3D shapes were complete we got to test them with some bubble mixture. Some worked out really well and some didn’t but overall all of them were amazing. There were so many shapes and sizes as each pairs shape was unique..

By Rachel Kim and Eden Slattery

           

                                                            

                                                          

SNAG Golf

SNAG Golf is a program designed to teach people how to play golf.  ‘SNAG’ stands for starting new at golf. During our lessons we have learnt how to have the correct stance, body position, the proper way to swing the club.

Your form plays a very important part in golf, as it can determine the accuracy the ball has when hit. In order to have the correct form you would have to keep arms straight and solid, forming a Y along with the club. There are two types of clubs, the roller and the launcher. With the launcher causes the ball to bounce into the air while the roller sends it rolling straight.

You had to shout “SNAG” if the ball you struck hit the goal on the rollorama.

                                               

We feel that being able to take part in this activity was a great opportunity to try something new and learn golf.

By Nicholas, Zachary & Audriana

       

The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand

Written by Neive Cameron and Josephine Hunter

                                           

A few weeks ago, the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand came down to visit the school! She came into room 1, with two other ladies, and a bodyguard. She let us ask her questions about her and her job.

Someone asked her about her previous jobs, and duties in the council, and why she was here. “Well,” she said. “I am acting Prime Minister today, so I decided to visit schools around the country.”

It was really interesting to see a high member of the government in our classroom! We learnt a lot, and are super excited to see more of her in the future.

Chess Taster Session

Paul a chess coach came to UHPS to give us an experience of playing the game of chess.

We were given an introduction to the main rules such as the way the pieces could advance on the board and the difference between check and checkmate.

Paul shared a few techniques to use such as fool’s mate and a few surprising facts like do you know how many squares there are on a chessboard? There are 204 squares on a chessboard.

After we were taught how to play chess, we partnered up with another student. Now we could finally start playing chess.

We all thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun to learn something new and challenging.

By Nicholas, Blake and Audriana

  

Rippa Rugby Tournament!

The awesome UHPS has been lucky enough to attend the Windsor park Rippa Rugby Tournament. This tournament consists of 3 one day events, 2 of which we have already attended. We have entered 3 mixed teams, two year 3/4 teams and one year 5/6 team altogether from UHPS.

Rippa rugby is a sport that you have to rip a tag off the other opponents in the game and ripping is when they have a velcro strap which goes around our waist.

 So far the competition has been tough but we fought hard and enjoyed ourselves. We enjoy supporting and encouraging the other teams.

We have had to have a strong heart and a growth mindset against tough competitors from all over the North Shore, such as Sunnynook, St John's, Albany and Mairangi Bay school.

We have loved the competitiveness that this tournament has brought, and the cheering from our supporters. We can't wait till the final day... it is going to be awesome.

By: Blake and Kayden

We did some work around what makes a good entrepreneur (An entrepreneur is an inventor who invents new things to make the world a better place). Mrs Thompson explained how we can all be entrepreneurs and that’s when we started designing our own biscuit.  We started by tasting different types of store-bought biscuits and noting down some of the different characteristics (Chocolate, Vanilla, chocolate chips etc).

Soon it was Wednesday, we were all  excited, and each one of us quickly gathered all my toppings for our room 1’s biscuit making day. We started making the basic biscuit recipe then our amazing teacher Mrs Thompson put them in the oven. We started to put all our delicious toppings on (Marshmallows, chocolate etc).

We were FINALLY allowed to eat these yummy creations. They all had different designs (Chocolate chip, chocolate  etc). A couple of weeks later we had to make biscuit for a client, we didn’t know what they wanted. Would our clients like the biscuit we made?

By Amber and Abby